Courrier secret (Tina comic)/plot
The adaptation is fairly faithful to the original but, of course, sections with a lot of description or conversation have been abbreviated. The section headings below do not occur in the comic strip. They are inserted here only to make comparison with the original text easier. The chapter headings in brackets refer to those in the original book. Chapter I: Worrals Has a Visitor The preamble is faithfully depicted. Worrals frets about inactivity while Frecks is calm. It's an aircraftman instead of an aircraftwoman orderly who knocks and tells them McNavish is waiting outside. The exchange between McNavish and Worrals is a lot shorter--just two speech bubbles. Yorke's mission brief is also a lot shorter but all the important details are covered. He shows Worrals the photo of von Brandisch and also mentions the dry cough. Chapter II: At the Chateau Delarose The scene on the tarmac at departure time is also faithful to the original except that the Merton Midge (specifically named as such in this adaptation also) does not look anything like a light aircraft with folding wings. It looks like a late model Spitfire with teardrop canopy and side by side seating! Bill sees them off with more or less the same exchange of sentiments. Their arrival at the chateau is also covered in detail. Worrals proceeds to the chateau after landing and gives Mundier the code phrase. The exchange between Worrals and the Mundiers in the speech bubbles is almost word for word similar to the orginal story. Chapter III: Swift Developments Like in the original, Mundier is full of doubts and hesitation. There is the episode where Lucien breaks out in his eery laugh but here Worrals doesn;t ask Mundier to stop him. Madame Mundier takes over and she and Lucien help to put the plane in the cellar. The wings of this fighter like plane can be slightly folded. The girls then change and proceed to the kitchen. Chapter IV: Strange Events The encounter in the kitchen with Oberleutnant Schaffer and Leutnant Lowenhardt goes much the same way as in the original. A soldier comes to report the escape of the prisoner. Lucien laughs and Schaffer flings a cup at him. As in the original, Frecks calls him a brute, but this time it's not Worrals who tells her to keep quiet, it's Schaffer. After Schaffer and Lowenhardt leaves, the other events in this chapter are similar. Worrals wants to get the paper back from Schaffer, Mundier thinks it is impossible. The two girls decide to act for themselves and steal into the kitchen at night to get a replacement page from a similar book, but the needed page is also gone. Chapter V: Sinister Proceedings All the key events here are depicted. There's a lot of conversation between Worrals and Frecks as they wonder about all the strange things going on which they don't understand. These exchanges are all left out of the adaptation, one supposes, for reasons of brevity. In the penultimate scene, the girls watch someone lift the paper from Schaffer's jacket but this figure didn't get up from among the sleeping German soldiers. The statement Worrals makes that she seems to be bungling matters and that perhaps this was no job for a girl is not repeated here. Chapter VI: A Disturbing Visitor Schaffer gets his message to depart for other billets but he doesn't say it is to Tours here. The girls go picking apples. In the book, it is Frecks who thinks the sudden departure of Schaffer's men is linked to the paper being delivered to German intelligence who want to lull possible French agents at the chateau into a false sense of safety. Worrals who didn't see anything unusual in the move compliments Frecks for her hunch. In the adaptation, the roles are reversed and all the good lines are given to Worrals. The visit by the nun (von Brandisch in disguise) takes place much as in the original but the girls don't actually see him approaching the chateau and picking up something from the ground. Chapter VII: Adventure Underground Nothing much different here either. All the details are depicted, including the discovery of the English cigarette butt. Chapter VIII: Heavy Going for Frecks The sequence of the story events follows that of the original so Frecks' part is told first, so she takes a walk and spots German soldiers trapping the field (here von Brandisch is not seen among them). She tries to flash a light signal to Worrals but the plane crashes as it lands. Then von von Brandisch comes visiting. Chapter IX: What Happened to Worrals Worrals gets back to base and reports to Yorke. The discussion here is more abbreviated but follows the lines of the original quite closely. The flight back and the episode of the pigeon basket is also faithful to the original except that, after landing to retrieve the pigeon basket, Worrals accidentally kicked her parcel of goodies out of the cockpit and so picks it up before going on to the woods to get the birds. This is quite plausible in a high wing light aircraft with a cockpit door. In the Spitfire like aircraft drawn here, it is hard to see how a kick could get a parcel out of the cockpit. In this adaptation, Worral's pigeon basket isn't wrapped up. She just carries it plain but the people she meets don't bat an eyelid. Part 1 of the adaptation ends when she meets a German soldier on a motorcycle. The rest of this story is continued in part 2. Like in the original, Worrals next meets a German officer in a car who gives her a lift to Tours. There are no thought bubbles and Worrals doesn't reflect on the wisdom of Yorke using women for the mission--in fact this theme isn't mentioned in the adaptation at all. Worrals next meets Schaffer and the conversation closely matches the original except he doesn't tell her he is now station at a hotel in Tours nor does he invite her to visit some time. Chapter X: A New Assignment Worrals arrives at the chateau and meets von Brandisch, who is with Frecks. The discussion and how the girls end up being "recruited" as Gestapo agents runs along the same lines, except there isn't an interlude where Worrals asks von Brandisch to go out while she changes out of her wet clothes. Chapter XI: Drama on the Roof The events surrounding the release of the messenger pigeon and the struggle with Lowenhardt are covered in detail. Lowenhardt is brought down by a bolt from a crossbow and the girls later go back and find his body gone. Like in the original, Worrals sees Lucien making four cups of coffee and challenges him and so he drops his pretence at acting dim-witted. But his revelations deviate slightly from the original. Here he freely confesses to attacking Lowenhardt (in the original no one actually admits it). And here he tells the girls that Lowenhardt isn't dead. He was hit with a bolt tipped with a powerful narcotic. When he awakes, he would find himself a prisoner of the Marquis. It's common in the Tina adaptations to reduce the body count and this is no exception. Chapter XII: Council of War The council of war held in the girls' room and their introduction to Raoul follows the original closely. The only difference is they don't come up with a plan to explain Lowenhardt's disappearance, Worrals merely notes that von Brandisch would be anxious. Chapter XIII: An Alarming Discovery The events here are all depicted in detail, including the discovery of the microphone and tracing the wire to the arbour. Worrals distracts von Brandisch in the same way to prevent Lucien running into him carrying Lowenhardt's uniform. The girls then stage the conversation for von Brandisch's benefit, just as in the original. Chapter XIV: More Shocks Lucien tells the girls the uniform has been placed on the banks of the Loire as "they had discussed" (in this adaptation this discussion wasn't covered in the speech bubble). The rest of the narrative follows the original closely. Worrals decides to go to Tours to "report" Lowenhardt's disappearance to von Brandisch and there meets Bill Ashton. Worrals discusses her "plan" to make Bill talk and she goes with von Brandisch to see the place where Lowenhart's uniform had been found. She then tells Frecks to get everyone to evacuate. Chapter XV: On Thin Ice Again, all the events here are depicted accurately. Von Brandisch agrees to her plan for Bill and also agrees Mundier because of her "good" work. Chapter XVI: The Last Round Bill escapes as per the plan Worrals gave to von Brandisch. The chase is not drawn--von Brandisch gets reports on the phone. When he hears that they have lost him, he takes Worrals to the chateau. Things move a little more quickly than in the original. Von Brandisch has the chateau searched and they find a WAAF uniform. Schaffer shows the discovery to von Brandisch, not Werner and the pigeon basket is not mentioned. Von Brandisch orders Worrals to try it on as he is sure it will fit her. She flings it at him, just like in the original. The next drawing shows her in a hidden passage with Bill. The use of a trapdoor in the fireplace is not drawn. They end up with Lucien in a tunnel but the use of a boat is not drawn either. They are shown getting off a lorry which has taken them to an aircraft and the last picture shows them arriving home. It is not mentioned that Yorke piloted the plane nor is it mentioned that Raoul chose to stay behind. Category:Plot summaries (derivative works)